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. 2023 Mar 21:10:1128272.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1128272. eCollection 2023.

Buchnera breaks the specialization of the cotton-specialized aphid (Aphis gossypii) by providing nutrition through zucchini

Weili Xu  1   2   3 , Weijiao Liu  1   2   3 , Jinming Li  1   2   3 , Xiangzhen Zhu  1   2   3 , Li Wang  1   2   3 , Dongyang Li  1   2   3 , Kaixin Zhang  1   2   3 , Jichao Ji  1   2   3 , Xueke Gao  1   2   3 , Junyu Luo  1   2   3 , Jinjie Cui  1   2   3
Affiliations

Buchnera breaks the specialization of the cotton-specialized aphid (Aphis gossypii) by providing nutrition through zucchini

Weili Xu et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

The cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover, is a species of polyphagous aphid with many biotypes, and its host transfer has always been the focus of research on the control of cotton aphid. An important factor affecting aphid specialization is the nutritional association with microbial symbionts that provide the host with nutrients lacking in the diet. We analyzed the microbial composition and biodiversity of reared on zucchini for 10 generations (T1-T10) and cotton as a control (CK), by high-throughput Illumina sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA genes. The findings showed that the change in plant hosts decreased the richness and variety of microbial species. Regardless of whether the plant host is altered or not, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes are the predominate phyla in cotton-specialized aphid. Additionally, cotton-specialized aphids that live in zucchini had considerably lower relative abundances of non-dominant phyla (Bacteroidetes) than cotton hosts. At the genus level the dominant communities were Buchnera, Acinetobacter, and Arsenophonus. The relative abundance of Buchnera was significantly higher in aphids reared on zucchini than those on cotton, whereas the opposite was observed for Acinetobacter, as well as for some non-dominant communities (Stenotrophomonas, Pseudomons, Flavobacterium, Novosphingobium). Collectively, this study clarifies the dynamic changes of symbiotic bacteria in cotton-specialized aphids reared on zucchini for multiple generations. Among them, Buchnera is crucial for the cotton-specialized aphid to get nutrients during the transfer of the host and has a favorable impact on the colonization of cotton-specialized aphid populations on zucchini hosts. It not only enriches our understanding of the relationship between the bacterial microbiota of aphids and their adaptability to new hosts, zucchini, but also expands the current body of research on the mechanisms underlying the host shifting ability of cotton-specialized aphids.

Keywords: Aphis gossypii; Buchnera; bacterial communities; host specialization; zucchini.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Sequencing analysis of 16S rDNA gene amplicons of cotton-specialized aphids with diversity indices. (A) Boxplot of α-diversity measured by the four indexs. (B) Core-Pan OTU presentation of the common and unique OTUs of all samples in the petal diagram. (C) Unweighted UniFrac metrics were used to determine pairwise distances among all of the samples. (D) Wighted UniFrac metrics were used to determine pairwise distances among all of the samples.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Changes in relative abundance of symbiotic bacteria in cotton-specialized aphids fed on zucchini for 1 to 10 generations and the control group (CK). (A) Relative abundance of symbiotic bacteria in cotton-specialized aphids fed on zucchini for 1 to 10 generations and the control group (CK) at the phylum level. (B) Relative abundance of symbiotic bacteria in cotton-specialized aphids fed on zucchini for 1 to 10 generations and the control group (CK) at the genus level. (C) Transfer to the Zucchini host significantly affected the relative abundance of Buchnera in the microbial communities of cotton-specialized aphids. Pairwise comparison between the treatment group and CK, the data is mean ± SD. *P < 0.05.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Comparison of biomarkers of different generations of cotton-specialized aphids on cotton host (CK) and transferred to zucchini host (T1-T10).
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Pattern of transfer of cotton-specialized aphids from cotton to zucchini.
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